Tournament Arc
by NorWithoutYou
Summary: Sixteen teams, sixty-four fighters, thousands watching. Old rivalries, new loves, exhilarating fights. This is the Vytal Festival, and only one victor will stand in the end.
1. Chapter 1 : CRDL vs BRKR

Those who have never fought will never know how it feels when those gates open.

First comes the rush of wind, a gust so powerful that it threatens to rip you off your feet as it blasts ferociously past the slight crack of the opening. Next comes the sunlight, flooding in to shatter the darkness of the corridor and your unadjusted pupils. And then, just as you are blinking back tears from the sudden light, the roar of the crowd envelops your entire being, and you feel crushed by its weight.

But you are not afraid. The jitters and goosebumps that had accompanied you for the entire past hour disappear completely. Your blood is boiling, and your head feels as if it may burst open – and yet you have never felt more focused in your life. The sound of the crowd always has that sort of effect. Before you know it, you are moving, and as soon as you step out of those gates and the world awakens around you, all becomes plain as glass. The noise is everything, and although your mind doesn't yet realize it, your body already understands. It moves in response to the noise. Like a puppet being pulled by its strings, the roar controls you. They are yelling, cheering, screaming… and it is all for you. They want you. They need you. There is no thought of retreating. There is nothing left but to go forward.

These are the emotions that Cardin Winchester felt as he led his team onto the battlefield of the Vytal festival.

Surrounded by thirty thousand spectators, and with dozens of cameras broadcasting to hundreds of thousands more, Team Cardinal (CRDL) was the first to make an appearance in this year's presentation of the largest tournament in all the world of Remnant.

With his teammates Russel Thrush, Dove Bronzewing, and Sky Lark following closely behind, Cardin strode swiftly, and with some measure of confidence. Though he was barely paying attention to it, Cardin still caught some of the commentary of Professor Oobleck being broadcast to the crowd.

"And here they come," the professor said, " - led by Cardin Winchester, of Beacon! Priding himself on his strength and mastery of the mace, he and his team will certainly be looking to make a good showing to head off Beacon Academy."

As Team Cardinal finished positioning themselves at the center of the arena, the ample voice of Professor Port took over the broadcast, picking up from where Oobleck left off. "With all the experience passed down to them from their **very** capable instructors, I'm sure they will Oobleck… I'm sure they will."

Slightly annoyed by the professor's indirect self-compliment, Cardin was almost distracted for a moment until the sound at the other side of the stadium pulled him back.

"Yes, but to do so they will need to overcome a dangerous opponent," continued Oobleck. "Hailing from Vacuo, this team appears to be rather new. Formed from students who have just recently transferred to their school of Shade, not much is known about these mysterious challengers."

 _New huh?_ Cardin thought, relaxing his grip on his mace a little. The knowledge would be useful. An unpracticed team would be more likely to make mistakes without knowing the capabilities of their teammates. _Maybe this will be more fun than I expected_ , he thought, bullying tendencies surfacing.

Almost as if to voice Cardin's own thoughts, Professor Port followed up, "While it would seem an obvious advantage to face a rookie team, the fact that they were able to qualify for the Vytal tournament in such a short period of time suggests that it would be unwise to let down one's guard."

Suddenly, with a hollow _thunk_ , the gates locked firm and fully open. Squinting, Cardin strained to see the faces of his opponents, but failed with the afternoon sun casting its shadows the opposite way. The crickety voice of Professor Oobleck rang once more across the stadium, "And now, without any further ado, let us announce the team who will face team Cardinal!" Boots began to emerge from the shadows as Oobleck continued, "Led by their captain Bizen Drow, and followed by Rey Mero, Ken Shamer, and Relia Storm, here comes –" Black letters spelling out BRKR flashed onto the giant screens above the stadium and Oobleck shouted, "TEAM – BREAKER!"

The roar from the crowd redoubled, and the members of team Cardinal were finally able to face down their opponents.

* * *

Elsewhere in the stadium, watching from the front row seats provided complimentary to all participating fighters – teams RWBY and JNPR observed the fight half-heartedly.

"You know guys, is it bad if I say that I'm not necessarily rooting for Beacon on this one?" asked Jaune Arc uncertainly. "Not really," replied the redheaded Pyrrha Nikos sitting next to him, "I'm sure we all feel the same way." Just then, Yang Xiao Long arrived, a giant tub of popcorn clutched snugly in her arms.

"Yeah, I hope they get their asses handed to them!" She announced. Bouncing to her seat with the rest of her team just behind JNPR, the buoyant blonde cheerfully added, "Anyone want popcorn?"

"Ooh! I want some!" exclaimed Nora Valkyrie as she reached over excitedly. She quickly began eating scoop after scoop of the buttery popcorn as if her life depended on it. Beside her, Ren sighed. "Don't you think of anything besides eating?" Ignoring the chastisement, Nora scarfed down a handful of popcorn, extending another handful to Ren as she did so. Ren considered his partner, speechless for a moment before finally rolling his eyes and taking the offering peaceably.

"Think of it as in fightentertainment." Said a smirking Yang. "Get it? In- **fight**? Like, in-flight? Huh? Anyone?" The seven other students collectively groaned in horror. A moment was spent in silence as the young warriors recovered from the terrible joke by their peer.

Finally, it was Weiss that broke the silence. "I'm sure everyone wants to see those jerks Cardinal get beaten – badly. But do we even know if the other team is up to the task?"

"Yeah," added Jaune, "They said Breaker was a new team right? They might not be that good. I mean, sure Vacuo is a pretty tough place, but…." He trailed off.

"Hey Pyrrha, you've got the most experience out of us all, what do you think?" Asked Blake, sitting on the back edge of the group.

"Hmm…" Nodded Pyrrha as she considered team BRKR carefully for the first time. At first glance, she saw nothing out of the ordinary. The person at the front of the group, whom Pyrrha could only assume was the team's captain, was tall and well-built. His attire was simple and combat-efficient, and his only weapon seemed to be a single straight sword that he carried in a scabbard slung over his back. What really stuck out about him was his hair, which was dark, red, and spiked. A tiny silver cross necklace hung from his neck. There was nothing that was outwardly intimidating about the captain, but Pyrrha could somehow sense a feeling of confident power emanating from the leader. _He's no novice_ , she decided, moving her gaze to the next combatant.

Compared to his leader, the next member of BRKR was of relatively average height. Again, there wasn't much that stood out from this fighter. He was not big, nor was he particularly muscular. He wore a simple black jacket that covered his arms and long trousers that ended at his boots. His hair was black and short. Interestingly, the boy didn't seem to carry a weapon. _A melee fighter?_ Considered Pyrrha. With that thought, her eyes were drawn to the boy's hands, and there she noticed something that caught her eye. Two black diamonds, like tattoos or stickers, decorated the boy's otherwise bare hands. _What are those?_ She wondered. Pondering this, Pyrrha absently begun considering the boy's face more closely – and she stopped.

 _What in the world?_

The expression on the boy was like nothing Pyrrha had ever seen before. On a face that at first glance had looked disinterested and aloof were eyes that shown with a ferocity that would put a wild Grimm to shame. As soon as she noticed this aspect of the boy's character, Pyrrha's entire perception of him changed completely. Suddenly, she saw the wolf underneath the sheep's skin, and all of the little details that she had thus far missed came to her all at once, causing her entire body to shiver in what might have been fear.

Turning to her companions, her voice now totally serious, she said, "This looks like it could be really, _really_ bad."

"For Cardinal?" Jaune asked, sensing the hint of unease from Pyrrha's voice.

Pyrrha nodded slowly. "Those people, especially that guy with black hair – they're _good._ You can see it in the way they move. It's not normal. That's not something you can get just from training some years at combat school. "

Hearing this from their veteran companion, the rest of team JNPR and RWBY now watched the stadium with redoubled interest. Blake, Weiss, and Ren seemed focused and serious, whereas Yang and Nora looked almost ecstatic.

"Great!" exclaimed Yang, "Looks like we get to see some Cardinal booty being kicked after all." She reached down for some popcorn, but her expression transformed from overjoyed to confused when she realized that there was nothing left in the tub.

" **NORA!** " she yelled, " **YOU ATE EVERYTHING**?!"

"Errr… it was Ren!" replied Nora, edging away nervously from the furious blonde. But it was to no avail, and flames erupted as Yang jumped up to begin chasing down the snack thief.

 _Sigh._ Pyrrha shook her head, though she was smiling as she considered the foolishness of her friends. This smile disappeared though, as her gaze once again fell upon the arena, where the two rival teams had now both arrived at the center.

 _I hope everything will be alright._ She thought.

* * *

…

At the center of the arena, Bizen Drow was enjoying the cool draft of fresh air from being outside. _This island weather is really nice._ He thought to himself.

In front of him, some angry looking mace wielding boy seemed to be glaring at him – but he paid him no mind. This day was really too nice to be spent fighting, he decided. Looking behind him, he saw that the rest of his team had taken their positions already. Ken and Relia looked ready enough, and Rey was… well – Rey. Suddenly, he had an idea.

Nodding towards Rey to catch his attention, he asked, "Hey, Rey, you want to take this one?"

"Not interested." the raven-haired boy responded almost immediately.

"Aww, come on man." Bizen prodded, hopelessly. "Just this once?"

When his companion still made no response, Bizen looked down, dejected.

Suddenly, the spark of a memory came to him, and turned to Rey once more with his smile returning.

"You know Rey," he said temptingly, "I heard these guys got soloed by Pyrrha Nikos some time ago in a practice match. You interested now?"

The change in Rey was immediate and overwhelming. As soon as the name of Pyrrha had passed Bizen's lips, Rey's expression had completely transformed. Even though he had been prepared for it, Bizen still stepped back automatically. A familiar chill crawled up his spine as he looked into the piercing, hate-filled eyes of his teammate.

 _There it is_. He thought. Making a motion to Ken and Relia, he led the rest of his team back and away from Rey, making a final glance behind him as he did so.

The very essence of hatred seemed to have possessed the raven-haired warrior. Rey's pupils dripped with venomous animosity. His lips snarled with a demonic energy, and underneath them you could see the force with which the boy was clenching his teeth.

Without a single word, Rey moved forward, taking off his jacket and throwing it on the ground behind him as he did so. The jacket landed with a heavy thump from the force with which the boy had thrown it, kicking up a small cloud of dust.

From high in the stands, professor Oobleck's voice rained down once again.

"And I don't believe it! It seems like team Breaker is going to send only one of their members to face down Cardinal alone! We really must ask whether they are simply that confident in their abilities, or if they are making a grave and foolish mistake."

Just then, the massive stadium screens started spinning as the landscape of the battlefield was randomized. Rey paid no attention to them, and seemed to be busy touching the two black diamonds on the backs of each of his hands each in turn. He seemed oblivious to team Cardinal as well, who were all wearing expressions of anger at the humiliation of being looked down on at such a degree.

 _I'm going to kill this guy_ , thought Cardin through his injured pride. "Hey kid!" he shouted, pointing his mace at the opponent. "You think you're tough huh? You're not gonna look so cool after I break your legs. And then we're coming for the rest of your team next."

Rey looked up, and Cardin froze.

 _Did I just shiver?_ Thought Cardin. His unease was replaced quickly by curiosity as the black diamonds on his opponent's hands suddenly expanded with a sharp _click._ The tattoo-like blackness spread like canvas over the backs of Rey's hands, quickly covering all of the area – including his fingers. The dark covering didn't stop at the wrists, but rather snaked a bit further than that – melding into vambraces. When the transformation was finished, Rey's hands and forearms were armored in black. At this size, the dark covering could be seen to reflect a little of the sunlight, as if it were metallic.

Just then, the spinning of the screens stopped, and the arena was decided.

"It looks like forest and desert have been chosen as the land-elements for this bout," announced Oobleck. "It will be interesting to see how our fighters take advantage of this terrain in planning their strategies."

"Also," he continued, "it appears that Rey Mero has activated his weapons. From first glance, they appear to be some sort of strange gauntlets. It's hard to say what sort of powers they hold." In the background, terrain of the arena had finished shifting. At the back of team Breaker, a lush green forest had sprouted from nowhere, adding an earthy smell to the air. Meanwhile, on the side of team Cardinal, rolling dunes of sand appeared, amplifying the brightness of the afternoon sun. The preparations were done. There was nothing left to do now but fight.

Behind him, Cardin sensed his companions shift forward, eager to charge in as soon as the gong sounded. Like their leader, the group hated being looked down on. They were too used to bullying others, never having experienced the same sort of ridicule for themselves.

However, instead of brazenly getting ready to lead the charge, Cardin instead surprisingly held a hand out behind him, calming his team. "Move back." He commanded.

Surprised by their leader's uncharacteristic show of restraint, the rest of team Cardinal paused at first, uncertain.

"Move back!" Cardin commanded again, this time more forcefully. At this, the four fighters finally began retreating a few paces back to the desert.

 _Better safe than sorry._ Cardin thought.

"And it seems that team Cardinal is actually making space between their opponent!" Oobleck said excitedly, "What a tremendous show of restraint! Cardin Winchester is proving to be a far more patient leader than expected."

 _Patient? Heh._ Every bone in Cardin's body was still itching to destroy the cocky brat in front of him, but a year of experience at Beacon had shown him that being reckless could often lead to failure – his defeat by Pyrrha had proved that. Regardless of the fact that Cardin was a bully and a jerk, he had still been accepted to one of the most prestigious warrior academies in the world. On top of that, he had even become a leader of one of the teams. There was definitely some talent there, and experience had gradually built up a form of what might even be called heroism in the callous young man.

"Spread out," Cardin said, when the team had backed up to the first of the sand dunes. "Dove and Russell, you guys take that high-ground over there. When the battle starts, we'll fire everything we've got at that cocky little prick. There's no way he'll be able to dodge everything on his own." Together, the four readied their weapons and faced Rey, who had not yet moved a single muscle.

Just then, the gong rang with a deep _Thonggg_ and the battle began.

"And here we go!" bellowed professor Port.

Immediately, team Cardinal began firing their ballistics. Unfortunately for them however, the range proved to be too far for any decent sort of accuracy. Very few bullets even came close to the motionless Rey. Even so, there were some shots that had the possibility of hitting their target. These, Rey blocked casually with his armored hands.

"Keep firing!" Cardin said to his teammates. "Make him come to us." Yet in his mind, he thought – _This guy would have to be stupid to run into a barrage like this. But still…_

In the time that they had been shooting towards their immobile target, team Cardinal's aim had gotten progressively better. Now, nearly a fourth of the bullets were hitting Rey, who was moving faster and faster to block the shots. Still, there was not a hint of hesitation on his face, and rather than retreat – Rey began moving forward.

Walking at first, and then picking up to a jog, Rey steadily advanced against the hail of oncoming bullets. With each stride, his pace quickened, until he was almost sprinting. As the distance decreased, the danger from team Cardinal's bombardment became more and more apparent, and Rey had to make adjustments to keep himself from getting hit. At thirty paces he tucked his arms to his chest and lowered his stance to provide a smaller target. Ten strides later and sensing blood, Rey began dashing in a zig zag – now moving almost too fast for team Cardinal to follow.

Seeing their enemy almost upon them, Cardin realized that defense was over. He stopped firing. It was time to fight.

"GET HIM!" He shouted, readying his mace. From his position, he and Sky would be the first to meet their foe. He would have to trust the rest of his team to take advantage of their position and surround the boy. His muscles coiled and tensed. His head began to feel hot as blood rushed through his veins.

 _He's coming….He's coming…_

 _ **He's….. HERE!**_

With a tremendous roar, Cardin sprang forward and unleashed all of his strength in a devastating horizontal swing, closing the distance between him and Rey instantly. The speed and force of the mace was enough to cause even the air to shriek – and it certainly would have crushed Rey instantly had it connected. - _Had it connected._

Milliseconds before the mace would have caught his face, Rey Mero dove downward, snaking the ground like a shadow. Cardin's blow missed completely, forcing Cardin himself off balance and primed to be counterattacked. Rey didn't hesitate to take the opportunity, spinning around instantly to charge his unsteady opponent.

Cardin himself felt his mistake sharply. _Crap_ , _crap!_ He thought to himself as he gritted his teeth and prepared to take a devastating counterstrike.

But the blow never came.

Eyes half-open, the brawny team leader peered to see what had happened. It was Sky who had saved him. As soon as he had seen his leader miss his strike, the pale warrior had stepped in to cover for him, catching the attention of their opponent with broad sweeping strokes of his halberd.

 _Thanks Sky,_ Cardin thought before rejoining the melee with a snarl.

"And now it seems to be a two on one against Mr. Mero!" announced Professor Oobleck. "With this we'll finally be able to see whether team BRKR's confidence has the ability to back it up."

On the floor of the shifting sands, Cardin and Sky were unleashing a barrage of blows against their isolated opponent. From a year of practice together, the teammates had obtained a great sense of timing regarding each other's attack patterns. Their strikes were accurate and well timed, flowing together perfectly so that their target had no chance to retaliate.

"What a display by the members of Cardinal!" exclaimed Oobleck, "They aren't letting Mr. Mero catch a single breath with their assault!"

Oobleck's words seemed to be proving quite true. From standby, Rey looked like a puppet being forced to dance in the face of a torrent of blows. He ducked and dodged, twisting and turning to avoid swing after swing of deadly metal. Each strike looked as if it were barely missing by a hair's breadth. And yet… nothing was hitting.

As time went on, Cardin began to feel it. With attack after attack coming up empty, a creeping sense of unease began seeping into his mind. _Damn it, why can't we hit him?_

"Dove! Russell! Start shooting him!" Cardin shouted, "but aim **carefully.** " On top of their dune a few meters away, Dove and Russell nodded.

Now, with all four members of CRDL on the attack, the equilibrium finally seemed to be breaking. With carefully aimed shots by Dove and Russell woven into Cardin and Sky's ground attacks, Rey finally seemed to begin to give ground. The raven haired boy was forced to move faster, and faster. His shoulders narrowed, and his stance lowered further and further, turning from crouch into a near crawl. Though he succeeded in making himself a smaller target, the endless onslaught only seemed to get closer and closer to finally bringing the battle to a close.

 _We've got him._ Thought Cardin ecstatically. _We've finally got him!_ Eager to catch the face of his opponent in the moment of defeat, Cardin searched for the face of Rey. What he saw shocked him.

Rey was smiling.

And suddenly, everything changed. Strikes that had seemed like they were just barely missing moments before were suddenly missing by miles. The pinpoint accurate shots of Dove and Sky now looked completely amateurish as they landed completely off their target.

"I don't believe what I am seeing!" blasted professor Oobleck, "Rey Mero looks like an utterly different fighter! His movements have completely changed. In all my years I've never seen such a spectacle!"

It was true. Rey was moving differently. Before, his style had seemed robotic – impeccable and clean – but predictable. Now, he seemed nothing short of a beast. One moment swaying backwards far enough to touch his head to the ground, the next dashing forward like a missile – Rey became an impossible target.

In desperation, Cardin and Sky swung erratically, giving their all to hit their enemy. The carefully timed team play had devolved into chaos. But it was too rushed, and with one single badly-timed swing by Cardin – everything stopped.

In one metallic hand, Rey Mero enveloped the head of Cardin's mace tightly in his fingers.

Panicking, Cardin struggled to free his weapon, but it felt as if it were encased in concrete.

All was silent for a moment, and then the silence was broken as the smiling Rey whispered a single line.

" _ **The End."**_

Suddenly, with a tremendous sound like lighting hitting a mountain, Cardin's mace shattered into a million pieces.

As shards of solid metal flew through the air, Cardin's frozen face spoke plainly to his shock and disbelief.

" _That's impossibl-"_ were Cardin's final thoughts right before his entire world spun and crashed into darkness.

In less than a second, Rey had grabbed Cardin's still outstretched arm with one hand, shot his opposing shoulder underneath the arm, and flipped Cardin like a ragdoll over his back. Cardin's armored body hit the sand like a sack of boulders, knocking out the tall warrior instantly. Even then, Rey had not let go, instead swinging Cardin's limp body as a club to hit Sky Lark, who had been coming over to help his fallen leader.

Dazed, Sky couldn't even react before he too felt the iron grip of Rey's gauntlets and fell victim to another flurry of throws – ending with his face buried deep in a sand dune. The entire exchange happened so fast that Oobleck hadn't even been able to provide proper commentary.

And now, what would Russell and Dove do, seeing their teammates dispatched with such ruthless efficiency? Would they run and try their best to kite, or would they stand and fight?

As it turned out, it didn't matter. With blistering speed, Rey had dashed up the dune on which they stood. Russell barely had time to get a shot off before an armored hand crashed into his face. Grasping Russell's head as if it were an apple, Rey lifted the entire body of Russell along with his head in an incredible display of strength.

For a while, Russell kicked and writhed in a desperate attempt to release his face from Rey's vicelike grip. But as his flailing arms and legs hit nothing but air, his situation looked more and more hopeless. The thousands of spectators found themselves holding their breaths as it soon became apparent that Rey's hand was blocking off Russell's air supply, suffocating him. Within seconds, Russell had stopped squirming as he was choked out, three feet in the air.

Finally, Rey released his grip, and Russell's body collapsed with a dull thud before beginning to roll down the side of the sand dune. All was silent as everybody watched the seemingly lifeless body tumble over and over before finally coming to a stop at the bottom of the dune.

It was only then when Professor Oobleck finally resumed his commentary.

"Incredible! It appears that Mr. Mero has just finished off three of Cardinal's members. Now it is up to Dove Bronzewing to avenge his teammates!"

Thousands of eyes transfixed on Dove, who, standing just a few meters away from Rey, had been completely paralyzed for the entire time his teammates were getting destroyed. His mouth agape, Dove looked down at Russell's body, then turned back to check Cardin and Sky, who had been equally devastated. Then, Dove looked back at Rey, and found no mercy in his chilling eyes.

Closing his mouth, Dove took a gulp before anxiously choking out his sentence,

"Uh…. I surrender."

Immediately, the stadium erupted in noise as Oobleck's voice blasted out from the speakers.

"AND HERE WE HAVE IT! TEAM BREAKER HAS DEFEATED CARDINAL AND WILL BE GOING INTO THE NEXT ROUND! WHAT A FIGHT!"

* * *

Surrounded by cheers and shouts, Pyrrha sat uncertainly as she contemplated the fight that had just ended. Behind her, Yang and Nora were exploding in rambunctious joy – their previous quarrel completely forgotten.

"OH MY GOD! Did you see those throws?" exclaimed Yang as she shook Nora by her shoulders. "I've never seen anything like that!"

"And his gauntlets!" added Ruby – always the weaponophile, "How were they able to crush Cardin's mace so easily?"

"He was fast too." Said Blake, who had remained calm, but still looked slightly impressed.

In all their excitement, only Pyrrha looked like she wasn't having fun. The others, too busy gushing over the fight, didn't notice the worried expression on Pyrrha's face. It was Jaune, sitting right beside the redheaded warrior, who finally noticed that something was wrong with his friend.

Not wanting to make a scene, Jaune leaned over to his troubled leader and whispered,

"Hey Pyrrha, you don't look too well. Is something wrong?"

"I don't know Jaune. I just… I mean… It's probably nothing, but –"

Pyrrha froze.

For the past minute, the victorious Rey Mero, who was still standing on top of the sand dune, had been scanning around the arena. It was as if he were looking for something, or in this case, some one. And now, he had found her.

As Rey's eyes locked onto Pyrrha's, the noble warrior felt a very real tendril of fear clasp around her heart.

Holding her gaze with his abyssal black eyes, Rey opened his mouth to speak a silent message.

Though Pyrrha had no way to be sure, she could have sworn that it read –

" _Hello Pyrrha. Prepare to die."_


	2. Chapter 2: RWBY vs MIME

**Author's note:**

 **Hello friends! Seems like I've finally managed to finish chapter 2. Sorry I write so slowly, though I did have to take finals, and I also took some time off which is why I'm so late. These chapters are pretty long, so I'm sorry if I don't edit properly.**

 **Anyways, I had a looottt of fun with this chapter. Hope you all will too :D**

*Twitch.

*Twitch.

Yang stood, half bewildered, half incredulous as she stared at the four figures in front of her and her teammates. Everything about this was just… wrong. So wrong.

The more she stared, the more heated she felt. This was shown quite clearly by the emotions written on her face, transforming from confusion, to annoyance, and finally – to rage. The fight hadn't even started, and already the slightest wisps of steam were rising from Yang's golden blond hair. She clenched her fists tight as she continued to glare at the opposing figures.

The four members of the enemy team were split evenly by gender – two girls and two boys. All of them were dressed exactly the same - long, loose-fitting black pants with suspenders; black and white striped long sleeves; and shiny black loafers. However, what truly completed the ridiculous look of the group was their identically painted faces. Like bizarre masks, each member's face was covered in pasty white, with thin lines of black paint scribbled quizzically to form eyebrows and puckered lips.

And finally, as if to make their costume even more obvious, they also wore berets.

That's right, they were -

"Team **MIME**!" came professor Oobleck's voice booming from the speakers.

Yang cringed. Mimes. **Mimes!** For a week, she had been watching epic fights between teams of master swordsmen, deadeye marksmen, breathtaking dust users – and what does team RWBY get for their first opponents? _Mimes. #$%*_

This was really, **really,** pissing her off.

To make matters worse, the members of MIME appeared to be acting like brainless idiots, moving in slow motion, flailing their arms around, and doing a variety of indecipherable dances.

As they did this, Professor Oobleck attempted to announce the names of the new team.

"Let's see… they're names are… wait, that's not it. Port, do you have that sheet with the contestant's names? Oh, here it is! Aha!"

"Ahem. Team MIME! Here we are. They are led by Mr….

– umm…" the professor paused, confused, then continued " – Mr. Mime."

With a flourish, one of the boy mimes stepped out and bowed, tipping his beret.

"And followed by… Mr. Mime…." The second boy bowed. "Ms. Mime... and Ms. Mime…" Now, the two girls took their turn to bow, holding hands as they did so.

"Well. This is certainly… unique," said Oobleck. "Let's see how team RWBY can make use of their strengths to overcome… how strategy and quick thinking can….how… never mind, let's just role the arena and start this already."

As the giant spinners did their thing in the background, team RWBY was busy doing some last second weapon checks. Well, most of team RWBY, anyways.

For a while now, Yang had been preoccupied with pounding her fist into her palm – hard. *Thump. *Thump. *Thump.

"Uh, sis, are you okay?" asked Ruby, a bit worried by the dangerous expression on Yang's face.

"I'm going to kill them. I'm going to kill them…" Yang muttered over and over.

All of a sudden, the spinners stopped, locking onto a grass symbol and a glacier. Immediately, the original arena descended, and was quickly replaced by a grassy plain on the side of team MIME and an icy tundra on the side of RWBY.

After giving a few moments for the teams to retreat to their respective sides, Professor Oobleck began the fight.

"Aaaanddddd BEGIN!" He shouted, as the gong of battle sounded.

Instantly, Yang was off like a bullet, exploding forward in a mess of shotgun blasts and unbridled rage. Before any of the rest of team RWBY had time to react, their blonde friend had left nothing more than a firey afterimage behind her.

Enveloped in her anger, Yang didn't even bother to notice team MIME's strange actions as she continued her charge. Together, the four silent fighters lifted their gloved hands in front of them – stopping at the same distance forward. With clockwork precision, all four members began lifting and patting their hands at different places, as if feeling out an invisible surface in front of them. Blank and expressionless were their faces as they worked, four actors lost in their own world. Then, suddenly satisfied with their work, they stepped back in unison, just in time to look up to a bloodthirsty blonde less than a few meters away.

"YEAAAGGGHHHHH!" shouted Yang as she took one last step before pouncing forward, right arm pulled back in preparation for an earthshattering punch.

"YANG! Wait!" shouted Ruby, desperate to reach her sister.

It was too late now. Yang was there, and she was ready to rumble. Flying through the air – wind rushing all around her – golden hair brighter than the July sun….

Smack*

Like firing a tomato into a brick wall, Yang was flattened instantly by what seemed to be a wall of solid air. All around, thousands of spectators cringed in unison. A second passed, then two, then finally – Yang's limp body peeled itself off of the wall and collapsed in a heap.

"Yang!" exclaimed Ruby, who had just reached her sister's side. "Are you okay?"

"Ugh…." Came Yang's concussed reply.

Beside them, Blake and Weiss had also arrived, and were taking protective stances, trying to defend against any follow up attacks by team MIME. There didn't seem to be any danger though, as the group didn't seem to be interested in fighting at all. Instead, they had started… what seemed to be a construction project?

"Uh guys, what is going on?" asked Blake.

"This is so **weird."** Stated Weiss, who had dropped her guard and was busy feeling up the invisible wall left behind by team Mime. "How in the world are they doing this?"

"And what are they doing now?" asked Ruby, who had managed to help Yang back to her feet.

The four watched, incredulous, as their opponents worked in the distance, shaping invisible structures from sheer nothingness. The mimes worked at an astonishing pace – banging hammers, screwing screws, sawing, cutting, scraping, shaping, and everything in between. They built walls and doors, and even stairs – which allowed them to walk on air with impunity. It was impossible for the onlookers to keep track of every detail in the structure that had been built, but it was clear that it was a fort of some kind.

When the mimes had finished, each member of the team took a different position, and one mime on the top rampart waved to the audience cheerfully.

"My word," announced Professor Port, "this is certainly something even I have never seen before – and believe me when I say I've seen a lot. Team Mime seems to have constructed a building out of nothing!"

Finished with entertaining the audience, the male mime who had been waving now reached into an imaginary back pocket and pulled out what seemed to be a round object. He took a glance at team RWBY, who were still standing behind the invisible wall, and brought the object to his mouth. As if gripping something on the object by his teeth, the mime then pulled his hand away, and promptly threw the object towards the four members of RWBY.

It took a precious few seconds before Blake finally realized what was going on and tackled Weiss to the side yelling, "GRENADE! TAKE COVER!" Hearing this, Ruby and Yang dived away to the other side, just before a tremendous BANG! resounded and a blast of hot air exploded over the top of their heads. At the point of impact, a sizeable patch of grass had been left singed with a small patch of dirt upturned in the center.

The action didn't stop there though, as already, the mime who had thrown the grenade had already begun pulling back an invisible bow and arrow. The three other mimes had also started going to work, with one manning an imaginary machine gun at a window and the two others continuing to lob explosives.

"FIGHT BACK!" shouted Ruby, assuming command.

The four girls split apart, dashing madly to avoid the ballistics and explosions coming their way. Though it was difficult to accurately predict how to dodge the invisible missiles, by looking at the actions of their opponents, the combat experience of the four girls was sufficient to react on auto-pilot. Since their weapons were easiest to fire while strafing, Blake and Yang were most active in returning fire. Soon, the bow and arrow mime had to take cover as a barrage of uzi fire and shotgun pellets burst against the rampart before him.

The four girls ran circles around the immobile mime fort, and neither team seemed to be able to land a hit on the other.

"RWBY!" shouted Weiss, "We need sniper fire!"

"I'd love to, but it's kind of hard to aim while running around like this," replied Ruby as she dashed past.

"I've got an idea," Weiss continued, "Get ready to jump."

Suddenly pirouetting to a stop, Weiss pointed two fingers to the ground, and a white insignia appeared instantly below Ruby's feet. "Hit em where it hurts!" yelled Weiss.

"Aye aye ma'am!" Ruby replied with a salute before launching herself high into the air.

As she flew upwards, the gears of Crescent Rose whirred into action, transforming the red and black scythe into a glorious bolt action sniper rifle. Aiming the tip of the rifle between her outstretched legs, Ruby took aim at the topmost mime – still cowering behind his wall. The mime didn't seem to have noticed at all, even though his three companions all were gesturing wildly in his direction, trying desperately to get him to look up.

 _Why don't they just tell him to get down?_ Thought Ruby for a moment, before realizing – _Oh yeah… they can't talk. Heh._

Bang! Bang! Two shots and a couple of .50 caliber bullets later, the poor defenseless mime was slammed limp against the wall, and one of the aura bars on MIME's screen was instantly depleted.

"And with that beautiful team play, team RWBY has just taken out a Mr. Mime!" said Oobleck, "They've made it a three vs. four."

"Nice shot sis," said Yang as she casually snatched Ruby out of the air. "Now we just gotta take care of three more."

"Easier said than done," said Weiss, who was busy launching shards of ice at the fort, which only managed to shatter against its immaterial walls. "These guys keep changing the walls of their stupid house – I can't tell where the openings are."

Suddenly, a massive explosion sounded just a few yards next to Weiss, and the pale girl barely managed to escape damage by rolling with the blast.

"Looks like they've upped their armory!" warned Blake, who was using her clones to try and confuse the machine gun fire.

"Damn it! At this rate we'll never get anywhere." Shouted Yang angrily.

At that moment, one of the girl mimes stopped throwing explosives and swiftly moved up the stairs and onto the open terrace – keeping her head down as she did so. The girl crawled to her unconscious friend and grabbed hold of each of his ankles. She then proceed to drag the limp body out of the open and halfway down the invisible steps. Safe from enemy fire, the girl mimed an imaginary suitcase like box, then took both of her hands and grasped them as if holding some imaginary handles.

Bringing her hands to together to her chest, the girl acted as if she was rubbing the two handles together, and then mouthed the word _clear_. She then immediately placed her hands on the unconscious mime's chest, which suddenly gave a great jolt. With a sputter and a cough, the boy mime sprung up from the stairs, magically revitalized. On the screen keeping track of aura, the empty bar suddenly filled itself back up to full.

The now perfectly healthy mime gave his savior a hug, and with a smile, bowed to the shocked audience.

*Twitch.

*Twitch.

"… I – I don't know what to say," Professor Oobleck stuttered over the intercom. "I do believe team MIME has just revived and completely healed their downed member with just a… an imaginary defibrillator. That's just –"

"That's completely unfair!" shouted Weiss, whose hair was now quite singed from the endless battle.

"It's impossible," stated Blake, herself in disbelief.

*Twitch.

*Twitch.

"It's okay guys!" said Ruby, "don't get discouraged. They've got to have some sort of weakness. We have a pretty good grasp of what they can do, even if we don't know how they are doing it. We just have to stick together and come up with a plan, and … -" Ruby paused.

"Uh… Yang? Are you okay? You're kind of doing that…. twitching thing again."

"Huh sis? Hey, do you hear me? You've stopped moving. HEY THAT MIME IS TRYING TO SNIPE YOU! – YOU REALLY NEED TO DODG-"

 **FWOOOOM!**

A massive sound suddenly burst from the arena. An eruption of flame burst like a supernova for a split second, nearly blinding everyone in the stadium before dying down to a veritable firestorm. Hurricane gale-like winds swirled around the fire, dragging up dust like a tornado and sucking up all the oxygen in the area like a black hole. In the center of this tempest of fire, wind, and dust – was Yang Xiao Long, standing in a state of rapture. Her eyes, which had always signified her fighting spirit, took on a whole new hue of red and purple swirled together like a flame dancing in her pupils. Her golden hair shone so brightly and brilliantly that it looked more white than yellow, and her entire body glowed with a dim light.

"Hoooooollllyyyyyyy &#$," said Blake blankly, while Ruby and Weiss simply stood in slack-jawed amazement.

The avatar of fire who was Yang took a step and turned towards the MIME fort. In the middle of the fort, the four mimes somehow looked even paler than their face paint allowed. They bounced and jogged in place, waving their arms around frantically, as if desperately trying to think of some way to deal with their new foe. Yang took another step, then another, making her way towards her poor victims. Finally, realizing that they had no choice but to fight, the four mimes picked up their resolve and started throwing everything they could at their enemy.

Silently, hundreds of thousands of machine gun and assault rifle bullets sped through the air, and just as silently – melted ineffectively in the blazing furnace of flame surrounding Yang. Similarly, hundreds of pounds of heavy ordinance fizzled uselessly as they hit the flames, barely adding to the fire. Yang simply stepped forward, one foot in front of the other, getting closer second by second.

Realizing that their attacks were doing nothing to their deity-like foe, the four members of team MIME went into panic mode, abandoning their assault altogether. Instead, they began an emergency remodeling of their invisible base, closing off all openings and thickening its walls. It was clear that their plan was to turtle up and ride out the storm.

Yang looked bemused by this. All her enemies in one little cage. _How convenient._

She lifted up one hand and turned her palm towards the fort. The air crackled, like the very atmosphere was breaking. A whiteness covered Yang's outstretched hand, pulsating with some contained energy. Then, suddenly, the energy burst forth, and a gigantic column of flame spewed out from Yang's hand and completely enveloped team MIME. The fire blocked out all view of the victims within, and the only evidence that the fort still stood was its box-shaped silhouette traced by the flames.

For half a minute, Yang cooked her prey, before finally releasing her fire. As the smoke faded, the profiles of four collapsed mimes focused into view. Two of the mimes lay on the floor, while the other two were in the air, sprawled on the stairs. On the aura screen, the bars for all four mimes were in the red and very nearly gone, but there was still enough for them to not be disqualified.

 _Just a bit more huh?_ Thought Yang. _I guess I'll just go and –_

*cough

 _Huh?_ Yang stumbled and fell to her knees, suddenly woozy. Her brain felt like jello, and a grey haze had entered her vision. Her newfound powers had some serious side effects – it seemed.

As Yang faded into unconsciousness, some developments were happening on MIME's side as well. The two mime's who were in the air suddenly fell to the ground. Somehow, it seemed that their fort's physical being had been compromised as its creator's aura depleted. Even so, some life had also seemed to return to the team. Already, three of the mime's were rising to their knees, and prepared to help up their fourth member, who was twitching on the floor.

The three remaining members of team RWBY had run to their friend as soon as they saw Yang collapse, and Ruby was already holding her sister's body up against her chest. Though Yang had completely returned to normal, her face was quite pale. Still, she seemed otherwise healthy, and had apparently simply gone to sleep.

As Ruby cared for her sister, Blake tapped the shoulder of Weiss and pointed at team MIME, and whispered,

"Hey, it looks like they aren't done yet. What if they have some way of healing themselves?"

Weiss considered this, then nodded. "I'll take care of it."

Drawing her rapier up in front of her face, Weiss gathered herself for a second before summoning an insignia to dash forward. Before team MIME could even react, the white warrior was in front of them. A moment later, all four of them were incased completely in one solid chunk of ice – frozen in their state of shock.

With this, the four aura bars finally dropped to zero, and the blaring of the horn signified the end of the bout. As the applause came down, the voice of Professor Port came through to announce the end.

"And with that strike, team RWBY has defeated team MIME and is qualified for the second round of the tournament! An amazing fight between two amazing teams. What a show!"

"That's right Port," interjected Oobleck, "this has truly been a spectacle. Team MIME showed us something astonishing, that's for sure, but it was Ms. Xiao Long who undoubtable stole the show today. I don't know how she was able to do what she did today, but I can't wait to see her fight again."

Suddenly, as if reacting to hearing her name on the speakers, Yang opened her eyes and immediately tried to pull herself up.

"Yang!" exclaimed Ruby, "You're okay! – again…"

"Huh? Oh, oh yeah." Said Yang drowsily, "I'm fine. Did we win?"

"See for yourself," said Ruby.

Yang glanced over at team MIME, still frozen in their prison of ice. The sight was almost comical, a perfect sculpture of art. Like going to Antarctica and finding a wooly mammoth in a glacier…. except…. with mimes.

Yang smiled. "Well," she said weakly, "looks like those mimes… have just been **silenced**."


	3. Chapter 3: JNPR vs MRTL

**Author's note:**

 **Hello friends! Oh boy, summer is great! Writing consistently really is a lot easier when you don't have any real obligations. I got this chapter done at a pace that I'm quite proud of, though I hesitate to raise up you guys' expectations for my writing speed…** ** _heh._**

 **Honestly, it shouldn't be that bad. Actually, from the very beginning, I already had this entire story completely thought out. That means that the only thing keeping me from updating is how much time I spend typing each day. I've had a lot of fun doing this though, and my desire to share this story with you all has really kept me motivated, so everything should be just fine. :D**

 **Enjoy!**

Pyrrha grunted and her entire arm went numb from impact. _Anymore of these kicks and I won't be able to move my arm for a month,_ she thought to herself as she raised her shield to block another kick.

JNPR and MRTL had been fighting for more than ten minutes already, and still neither side had managed to gain any significant advantage. However, having spent so much time fighting them, Pyrrha felt confident that she had learned most of her opponent's strengths and weaknesses.

Lee, the boy who was still trying to take her head off with his kicks, was a tall and lanky Muay Thai practitioner who liked to pick his shots, never committing fully. When they had first begun, Pyrrha thought that it would be easy for her to overwhelm him, as he carried no weapons and wore only woven arm wraps for protection. However, the boy had surprised her with his strength and speed, and the timing of his heavy, whip-like kicks had so far prevented her from mounting a full offensive.

To the side, Pyrrha had managed to catch glimpses of the rest of her teammates as well. Ren and Nora had banded together to take on a pair from MRTL who had been announced as Trent and Roa. Trent had come into the battle dressed in a white gi and it was clear that he was a karate practitioner of some form, whereas it was less clear what style the girl named Roa represented. Her movements flowed and swayed, with cleverly disguised strikes interwoven between dancing footwork – and it was a clear contrast with Trent's heavy, straightforward style. Together, they were a good match for Ren and Nora, and the four fighters were lost in their own world, perfectly in-tune with each other and their opponents.

While Pyrrha was not too worried for Ren and Nora, it was Jaune who drew most of her concern. The boy, and leader of team JNPR, was engaged in battle with a dark-skinned fighter named Marek, who had been introduced as the leader of MRTL. Unlike the rest of his troupe, Marek actually used weapons – two silver tonfas with runic swirls decorating their surface. It was clear that the boy had mastered his weapons, as he moved the tonfa into various forms of attack as comfortably as if they were attached to his body. For the entire fight so far, Jaune had been forced to turtle behind his shield in constant retreat, barely managing to avoid being knocked out by a spinning tonfa strike. It was clear that he would not be able to hold on by himself for much longer.

 **Crash!** This time, it was a side kick that smashed into Pyrrha's shield, jarring her out of her brief reverie. _This guy…_ she thought, _is getting kind of annoying. I guess it is about time, after all..._

After fighting for so long, Pyrrha had developed a bit of a theory regarding her opponent, Lee. From fighting him, it seemed to her as if he was a perfect by-the-book fighter. While it was true that he never showed any obvious weakness and pressed every advantage quite well, Pyrrha found that he was also very reluctant to take any risks. It was as if he had garnered almost all of his fighting experience through training and sparring without ever really being on any real battlefields – where nothing is predictable and anything can go wrong.

 _If that's the case, let's see how he deals with something unexpected._

Suddenly, Pyrrha threw her spear straight up into the air, completely abandoning her trustworthy weapon. As the spear flew away high enough to disappear in the brightness of the noonday sun, Pyrrha focused on her opponent.

As she expected, her erratic and seemingly irrational action had caused an immediate reaction by Lee. The boy looked quite startled, and for the first time since the start of the fight, he abandoned his aggression, letting off the pressure by hopping a short distance back.

Seeing this, Pyrrha smiled to herself. The gamble had worked, it seemed.

She braced herself for a second, then charged forward towards her confused foe. When the boy reacted by readying another kick, Pyrrha suddenly swung her shield in a huge arc – smashing down his leg before the kick could land. Then, with a yell, she jammed the shield squarely into Lee's chest, bashing the boy back a solid meter. But the assault didn't end there. Immediately after knocking the boy away, Pyrrha charged again, smothering Lee with blow after blow of her shield.

At first, the Muay Thai fighter was completely overwhelmed. Pyrrha's shield broke his defenses again and again to land staggering blows on his head and body. However, even with this punishment, he wasn't done just yet. Drawing upon the fortitude built inside him from years of training, Lee managed to pull back into his guard and successfully cover up. Turtling up in this defensive stance, the boy gradually recovered his stamina until he felt good enough to finally throw a punch in retaliation. The strike landed squarely on Pyrrha's shield and knocked her back ever so slightly. This proved to be enough however, for Lee to reposition himself to throw a follow up roundhouse. Bit by bit, the boy regained his tempo, and once again Pyrrha was on the back foot.

Without a weapon to threaten her adversary with, Pyrrha quickly lost ground. There was only so much that she could do with just a shield against such a talented fighter, after all. Yet even as she fell further and further back - until it seemed that defeat was imminent for the crimson-haired warrior – Pyrrha was perfectly confident.

After all, her maneuver had worked.

Just as she had hoped, Lee had completely forgotten something that was just about to come back to bite him. Furtively hiding her right hand behind her shield, she called upon her semblance as she beckoned her missile towards the target. And then -

 **BAM!**

Out of nowhere, Pyrrha's spear crashed butt-first into the back of Lee's head. She had made sure not to injure the boy with the tip, but just the impact from the blunt end was still more than enough to knock Lee out instantly. Her plan had worked just as expected. Throwing away her weapon to confuse the opponent only to use her semblance to bring it back for the knock-out; it was a beautiful ploy befitting of one of the most skillful fighters of the tournament.

With this, Pyrrha's battle was over. Now it was time for her to help out the rest of her teammates. Or…. maybe not?

Just as Pyrrha was picking up her weapon, some very loud and significant developments were taking place on the side of Ren and Nora. Now that Pyrrha was free to observe, she easily picked up on the shouting from that side of the battlefield.

"HEEEE-YA! Take that you ghost-robed meathead!" shouted Nora as she swung her hammer mightily into the torso of the karate fighter-Trent. The muscular boy buckled under the force and was blown away in a cloud of dust. "Hey Ren, I finally got him! Whoo Hoo!"

"Eh?" mumbled Ren, who was preoccupied with dodging a tricky combination of palm strikes from the girl Roa. "Uh, that's great. Could you help me out here?"

 _Vroom._ The pink haired girl was there like a bolt of lightning. "Sure thing!" Without a second of hesitation, Nora hefted her hammer at Ren's opponent and swung like a professional batter. She fired her weapon as she swung, adding even more _oomph_ to the swing.

"Wait, what's go-"were Roa's final, gargled words before the poor girl was blasted like a shooting star into the air and way out of the arena boundaries.

As Ren gave a sigh, Nora took a victory pose, pumping her fist into the air.

"Yay! Ren and Nora win!" she announced giddily before lowering her voice and adding – **"** ** _Fatality."_**

Ren face palmed. Nora shaded her eyes and scanned around. Finding Pyrrha standing alone besides her beaten opponent, she smiled and waved. Pyrrha waved back.

"Oh hey! Pyrrha's done too. So, all that's left is – "

 _Jaune,_ thought Pyrrha, quickly switching attention to where Jaune would be. The boy was barely hanging on by a thread the last time she checked on him. If she didn't hurry, their foolhardy leader could be in some serious trouble. For all Pyrrha knew, Jaune could already be a bruised bag of meat by now. After all, Jaune was by far the least experienced fighter in JNPR – and he was given the leader of the enemy team as his opponent. There was no way that he could-

Pyrrha's eyes opened wide in surprise. Ren and Nora, who had followed her gaze, also looked astonished.

It was Jaune, sword and shield in hand – standing tall. At his feet, curled in a ball, was Marek, the enemy team leader. Jaune had won.

The blonde boy was breathing heavily, and it looked like the adrenaline from the battle had not yet left his system, as he was still clutching at his sword tensely. As Pyrrha ran over, he finally relaxed. The look on his face said that he was just as surprised she was about his victory.

Suddenly, the arena erupted with cheers and the Beacon professors announced JNPR as the winners.

Under the screams of the crowd, Pyrrha stared at Jaune with a curious expression and asked,

"How did you do that?"

Jaune seemed to have trouble with his words, as he tried to explain, "I… I just…did. I mean, at first I was getting destroyed, but as time went on, it just felt like it was getting easier and easier – you know? Like, I could follow his movements somehow. Just before I knocked him out, I felt like I knew what he was about to do, even before he did it. All I did was attack where I thought he would be, and it worked."

For a second, Jaune saw an extraordinary expression on Pyrrha's face, but before he could ask – the redhead turned away. Contained within herself, Pyrrha felt a spark of heat rise through her body. If what Jaune said was true, and her intuition was correct, an incredible talent had just revealed itself in Jaune, and it was a talent that both excited her, and gave her the slightest tinge of trepidation. Since she herself was a top-class fighter, Pyrrha was first to recognize that another warrior had just entered their world.

As Jaune led his team out the arena grounds, Pyrrha looked ahead at her leader with an altogether different light in her eyes. _Things were changing,_ she thought.

Rey Mero took one last look at the small storefront screen broadcasting the match before turning away to leave.

The boy kept his head down, his expression unreadable, and he walked with huge – rushed strides, barely paying attention to where he was going. The carelessness costed him, as the boy suddenly found himself veering off-course after bumping with a huge, solid mass.

Spinning, Rey locked-on immediately to the thing that hit him, and quickly discovered that what he had collided with was not an object, but a person. A giant.

The man (or teen?) was at least seven feet tall, and was built like a Norse-god. His shoulders were as broad as a door, and his muscles were hard as wood. His features were square and heavy-set, and he wore a short beard. His hair was long, and unkempt, and it hung over a smooth, sleeveless tunic. His massive arms were crossed, and he stared at Rey with a weighty, unreadable intensity.

Psh, Rey dismissed. Whoever this guy was, Rey wasn't interested.

The raven-haired warrior turned on his heel, and began to resume his path. But before he could take more than two steps, a crushing weight suddenly fell on him, flattening him to the ground instantly. Enraged, Rey immediately tried to rise back up, but found that he could not. Every part of his body felt like it had turned into stone. With a great effort, Rey struggled enough to manage to raise his head from the ground and look behind him. What he saw was the giant, staring down at him coldly. It was clear that he was the source of this power.

Snarling, Rey redoubled his efforts. Bit by bit, he managed to rise, pushing up with all of his strength. But just as he had gotten to his knees, the pressure suddenly disappeared, causing Rey to jump up like a spring being released from its tension.

Immediately ready to pounce on his aggressor, Rey dropped into his stance. But just as he was about to attack, something caused him to stop.

It was a boy. A boy had come up beside the giant, and had his hand on the giant's arm. The boy was far shorter than his neighbor, not even coming up to his shoulder. Yet it was with his arrival that the pressure on Rey had been released.

The boy spoke. His voice was quiet, yet clear, but it sounded dispassionate – almost unfeeling in its tone.

"Nero," he said, "that is tiring."

Rey considered the boy more carefully. As he looked at his face, a flash of recognition passed over Rey. His eyes narrowed. He turned around, and left without looking back. It had only taken a glance, and already it was confirmed. It could only be _him._ It was astronomically unlikely for it to simply have been a look-alike. Hair whiter than snow. A grey, featureless cloak. And a long, misshapen package wrapped in cloth. Only one could have fit that description.

Rey walked along, this time with a clear destination in mind. And, before long, he reached it.

Bizen Drow turned around, distracted from his circus game involving bottles and rings. Seeing Rey, he smiled.

"Hey, what's up?" he greeted cheerfully.

Rey wasted no time with small-talk.

" _He's_ here, after all. He's in the tournament. Thought you might like to know."

Bizen's eyes widened. His smile turned wolfish, predatory. He looked at Rey, who recognized the _need_ in his team leader's eyes. The same need that took him when he thought of Pyrrha.

"Ah," spoke Bizen. "Looks like I get to have some fun after all."


End file.
